Arts and Crafts

Learn about Monoprinting
A different way you use your wooden blocks

Gelli plates are a wonderful way of mono printing fabric and papers. What is a gelli plate you may be asking yourself? Essentially a gelli plate is a thin slab of soft squidgy silicone type material. When you watch the inspirational vidieos on how easy it is to use gelli plates, you will learn how to apply the paint (always with a brayer aka roller to get a thin layer of paint)

Watch and learn how to use a gelli plate

The ideas are endless and very exciting. However, as block printers we love to press our wooden printing blocks onto the gelli plate to get a reverse affect and then create another layer on top with a positive affect. If you are looking for a different way to use your wooden printing blocks then pressing them onto a gelli plate may just be the thing for you.

The latest gelli plates on the market are the round gelli plates. Watch the videos of what you can create with the round gelli plates remembering that whatever is shown on paper you can replicate onto fabric – remembering to use Colouricious fabric paint for a lasting permanent result. These paints are a professional quality that apply well, mix together happily and have a very long shelf life.

You can spend hours mono printing stashes of papers using found objects. Get the young people in your life to hunt around the house for textures that work well with gelli mono printing.

recycling papers and fabrics works fabulously with mono printing – experiment and play using newspapers, tissues papers, wall papers, brown wrapping papers – then use them to make your own wrapping papers, tags and cards for birthdays, anniversaries and even Christmas!

There is a wide selection of gelli plates … click on each link and you can watch even more instructional videos on this creative mono printing technique.

Join us on a Textile Holiday

Come with us to India AND/OR Vietnam

Here is an opportunity for you to travel to a country you have always wanted to visit, but never had the people to go with! See the sights on tours that are organised in India for you to see the real life of textiles.

Our textile holidays always prove to be very popular and it is a super way to holiday with like-minded crafters. We get to see wonderful sights and you get to experience how crafting fits into the daily routines of villagers as we tour around the region.

We have our regular trips to Jaipur and Rajasthan which are always very successful and enjoyable, but this year we have expanded our itinerary to include Vietnam. We travelled to Vietnam for the first time in March this year and it proved to be a big success, so much so that we have arranged another trip for October.

We would love for you to join us on any of these trips and we know you will not be disappointed. Everybody comes back with memories that will last a lifetime as well as new friends that you can share crafting ideas and projects with. Visit the textile holidays section of our website, choose your holiday and download our booking form.

This video was taken on our last trip to Rajasthan and you can see one of the hotels we stay at and our visit to Fort Pokaram.

Latest Arrivals

Loads of new stuff to buy!

We have been really busy over the last few days getting lots of new stock and products onto our website. The new products will always appear first in our Latest Arrivals section, and in there you can see some wonderful collections of blocks and sets you can buy that will get you started. The sets have everything you need to print your first block printed project, all you need to supply is the material to print on. You get the blocks, the paint, the sponges and a foam mat to place under the material when you start printing. It is a fantastic way to see if block printing is for you. Take a look at some of these sets and see if they get your creative juices flowing.

Click on them if you would like to buy them.

Come and join us

Learn how to get more from your Wooden Printing Blocks

If you want to get more from your wooden printing blocks then we can now offer you two solutions!

Option 1

Come and join us at my home in Amersham as we enjoy a block printing workshop. At the workshop you will learn all about how to use your blocks to create beautiful designs. We work together as a team sharing ideas and advice in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. The day is packed full of tips and suggestions and really does make for an enjoyable time together. If you are interested in joining us on this workshop, visit our website workshop page, choose your date and reserve your place.

Option 2

If you already meet up with a group of other crafters, then I am happy to come to your location and help your group to learn block printing skills and techniques. We can create an itinerary that is just for you and covers exactly what you want to learn. I will bring all of the items you need to be able to produce a beautiful craft project and will spend the time needed to make sure all of your group are successful in their creation.. I am happy to travel anywhere in the world to visit your group and organise a workshop for you, but please make sure you book well in advance if you are based outside the UK.

To take advantage of this option, visit our website here and use the contact details to let me know what you are looking for and we can arrange a suitable date for the workshop.

We would love for you to join us on any of these trips and we know you will not be disappointed. Everybody comes back with memories that will last a lifetime as well as new friends that you can share crafting ideas and projects with. Visit the textile holidays section of our website, choose your holiday and download our booking form.

Learn, Create, Be Happy!

kind regards
Jamie MaldenColouricious

PS We have a favour to ask of you ……

when you watch one of our you tube videos actually on the you tube site, and you have enjoyed it, please can you click on the thumbs up! Thank you!

How to block print – Learn how to block print a tea towel

How to block print – Watch this video to see how easy it is to create your own textile art on fabric. Block printing your own tea towel is easy, fun and simple using Colouricious wooden printing stamps and Colouricious textile paint fix the paint to the fabric by ironing or tumble drying. Block printing is a great arts and crafts activity for kids in the holidays – get them to print gifts or home decor.
Buy some plain tea towels on line and have a go yourself!

Embroidery Heritage Textile Tour – West Bengal, India

Dates of this holiday are Sunday 22nd March – 2nd April 2015

Come and join in on our textile tour of India to learn about Indian heritage, hosted by textile artist Jamie Malden of Colouricious. During your textile holiday you will be exploring the Indian traditional techniques of block printing, kantha embroidery and textiles, and many more truly unique experiences.

Only 2 places left – book now to join in this fun adventure

There are still have a few places left for the Tribal Textile Tour commencing 3rd April.

Textile Art – Embroidery – Colouricious Textile Holiday

For full details and booking form visit Colouricious Embroidery Holiday to West Bengal

23 March (Monday):Arrive Kolkata. Upon arrival, transfer to your hotel. Lunch will be on direct payment basis at the Hotel.

Afternoon, enjoy visit to Gariahat Market which sells whole array of items ranging from clothing to crockery to fashion accessories and so on. Stay overnight at Hotel in Kolkata. Gariahat falls under Ballygunge area and is a retail market for saris (not only from typical Bengal but from all across India), jewelleries, crockeries, good restaurants and altogether provides a long stretch for window shopping too. It is the hub and shopping capital of South Kolktata

25 March (Wednesday): Breakfast is at the Hotel. After breakfast, you will visit Katna village. [95 Kms: 2.5 Hrs]

In Katna, you will take part in a Kantha weaving workshop. Lunch will also be arranged in Katna itself. Kantha holds a very special place within the village life in Katna. In Katna, you will enjoy a workshop on Kantha weaving. The process of Kantha work goes in a way that the new fabric to be used for the top and the bottom layers of the Kantha is first cut and then stitched according to the desired size. The bottom layer is spread on the floor and ironed. A second layer of soft white cloth is spread on top of it. A third layer of fabric is spread on top and all the three layers are secured together by long running stiches. Thread colours are selected for the quilting work and this is followed by embroidery work. Once the embroidery work is finished, the extra fabric is cut off from the sides to get a straight edge and a piping in matching colour is stitched along the edge for the finish and the label is added. The Kanthas are washed and ironed and are ready.

26 March (Thursday): Breakfast is at the Hotel. After breakfast, you will witness silk production and silk weaving in Murshidabad. Lunch will be at the hotel in Murshidabad on direct payment basis. After lunch, you will drive back from Murshidabad – Shantiniketan. [180 Kms: 4.5 Hrs] Stay overnight at Hotel in Shantiniketan.

Overnight is at the Hotel Mark and Meadows, Shantiniketan [Standard Room with Breakfast & Dinner]

27 March (Friday): Breakfast is at the Hotel. After breakfast, you will enjoy half day Macrame workshop. Macrame is a form of textile-making using knotting rather than weaving or knitting. Its primary knots are the square knot and forms of “hitching”: full hitch and double half hitches. It was long crafted by sailors, especially in elaborate or ornamental knotting forms, to decorate anything from knife handles to bottles to parts of ships. This macramé craft has been adopted from a foreign culture and has become an important craft in Birbhum since the part few decades. It provides a mean of livelihood to many villagers. Lunch will be on direct payment basis at the Hotel in Shantiniketan. Afternoon, participate in Batik workshop. The word batik actually means ‘wax writing ‘. It is a way of decorating fabric by covering a part of it with a coat of wax and then dyeing the fabric. The waxed areas keep their original colour and when the wax is removed the contrast between the dyed and non dyed areas makes the pattern. The crackle effect of batik is the most fascinating part which makes it unique. This results when the cooled wax is cracked to allow the dye to penetrate in the final dye bath.

Overnight is at the Hotel Mark and Meadows, Shantiniketan [Standard Room with Breakfast & Dinner]

28 March (Saturday): Breakfast is at the Hotel. After breakfast, you will enjoy full day excursion to Bishnupur. [185 Kms: 4.5 Hrs one way]In Bishnupur, you will witness Baluchari saree weaving alongwith terracotta and conch shell products being made by the artists. Bishnupur is famous for traditional Baluchari silk saree weaving which bears a lot of similarity with the Katki design of Orissa. Today, you will visit local Baluchari sari weavers and see their working pattern. Their silk-on-silk embroidered textiles and garments are sought after by women all over India as a high end fashion item. Packed lunch will be arranged on direct payment basis. Stay overnight at Hotel in Shantiniketan. They carve intricate blowing shells and bracelets out of conch shell. The bracelets, which are often inlaid with red lac or gold, symbolize in West Bengal that the wearer is married. Generally, it requires more than a month of hard labour to design and style a conch shell and is clearly a costly item. Also, witness the beautiful art of Terracotta work, which again are characteristic of Bishnupur. The most famous of the terracotta products are the handmade jars, disks, jewellery, horses, elephants, Ganesha and Nataraja. The potters here derive their inspiration from the history of kings, soldiers and wars

Overnight is at the Hotel Mark and Meadows, Shantiniketan [Standard Room with Breakfast & Dinner]

29 March (Sunday): Breakfast is at the Hotel. After breakfast, transfer to Bolpur railway station [Shantiniketan] to board your train to Howrah [Kolkata]. Train: Shantiniketan Express: 1310-1540 Hrs / AC-Chair CarArrival transfer from Howrah railway station to your Hotel. Stay overnight at Hotel in Kolkata.

30 March (Monday): Breakfast is at the Hotel. Morning, enjoy workshop at Kasba Weaver’s Studio to experience the local art of block printing and fabric dyeing. Day will be spent enriching oneself, learning and experiencing the art of hand block printing and fabric dyeing. A workshop on block printing will be organised. Lunch will be arranged at Ballygunge Weavers Studio. Post lunch, indulge in some retail therapy at Ballygunge Weavers Studio. Stay overnight at Hotel in Kolkata.

31 March (Tuesday): Breakfast is at the Hotel. After breakfast, enjoy full day excursion to Phulia and Shantipur [95 Kms: 3.5 Hrs one way] which are known handloom saree weaving centres. Phulia specialises in a combination of jacquard and jamdani work while Shantipur is known for superfine dhotis and jacquards. Shantipur – Phulia region has over 125,000 handlooms, churning out Shantipuri, Tangail, and Jamdani handloom sarees in a variety of yarns like cotton, tussar and silk. Dhotis, dress materials, stoles and scarves are also woven. These places shot to fame as a centre of handloom saree weaving, banking on immigrant weavers from Bangladesh. After partition of India, many skilled weavers of Dhaka came and settled in West Bengal around Shantipur and Phulia in Nadia district, both traditionally renowned centres for hand-woven fabrics. With government encouragement and support, the talented weavers soon revived their ancestral occupation and the art of exquisite weaving has once again flourished.

1 April (Wednesday): Breakfast is at the Hotel. Morning, enjoy half day visit to Gurusaday Museum. It is a National Treasure of Heritage. Presently, the museum has a collection of approximately 3300 exhibits of folk arts and crafts, thereby reflecting the vigour and vitality of the rural life and present a vivid picture of art and social traditions, religious beliefs, practices and motifs, aesthetic assimilation and cultural influences in undivided Bengal as well as in India.Lunch will be arranged at local restaurant on direct payment basis. Afternoon, enjoy visit to Dakshinapan Market famous for Handicrafts and Indian ethnic ware, is an open air complex which is spread over two floors. Above half of the total shops fall under Govt. of West Bengal and Central Govt. of India The market comprises mainly various types of State Emporiums, from all over India, dealing in handlooms, handicrafts, textiles, furniture, fancy goods and imitation jewellery. Stay overnight at Hotel in Kolkata.

Creative Art Textiles

If you love creative art textiles, you will love gelli printing. This is a mono printing technique, using Gelli Art techniques. Watch this gelli arts play list to learn how you can improve your creative art textiles. This is perfect for any age or ability, and everyone who loves arts and crafts. Gelli printing design ideas are amazing, and you can produce such a large variety of items. Gelli plating is great fun and perfect for everyone who is creative.

Block printing is one of the most ancient forms of decorative art in existence. Its origins lay in the valley of the Indus some four and a half thousand years ago. Craftspeople living in what is now Rajasthan, Pakistan and Gujarat, carved astonishingly fine and delicate patterns into local teakwood blocks. These blocks would then be soaked in olive oil for ten days and dried in the Indian sun. Then they were ready to be used to press on to vibrant, dyed cloth to create the most inspiring patterns. If you visit North West India today, you will see that artists are engaged in this same process four and a half thousand years later.

Block printing, however, is not confined to a corner of India but is making a global resurgence in the world of textile and mixed media arts. Two hundred years ago artists like William Morris, a pre-Raphaelite poet and artist, and a favourite of Queen Victoria, brought the beauty of block printing to the general public. The brilliant designs of William Morris, combined with Victorian industrial zeal, meant that block printing fabric changed form a hand worked craft to an industrial process and printed fabric patterns spread across the world and became the vogue for fashionable society. Further industrialisation of the fabric printing process rendered the blocks redundant and gradually, block printed fabric became sadly neglected. Now, the world is changing and with it comes the return of this simple and beautiful art form.

As modern society turns away from multi-national corporations and mass production, block printing takes its place as a simple and effective way of creating individual and unique patterns that form the starting point for any surface you create on or with. The blocks are wonderfully tactile and simply enjoyable to print with. The process is uncomplicated, accessible to all and produces immediately satisfying results. The block requires a thin coat of ink or fabric paint, then, with a soft layer underneath the surface to be printed, a reasonably firm press of the block onto the surface ensures beautiful results every time. There really is nothing more to it than that. You can be up and printing in seconds, whenever the inspiration takes you. Background printing on plain paper or fabric ensures that, whatever your style is, your surface will be eye-catching and exciting.

However, block printing is not just a background art; they can form the central theme around which other designs revolve, be incorporated into a larger pattern, overlaid to create a multi-layered effect, or utilised in a multitude of other ways. Nor are you limited to printing with paint or ink, the blocks can be so detailed that using embossing powders or printing into a material that takes impressions will create a stunning textured pattern. Wooden blocks are also incredibly easy to use; being made of hardwood they are extremely durable and, if you are printing with water based ink or fabric paint, only require wiping at the end of each printing session. If you are printing into an impressible surface or with embossing powder then it is necessary to be more careful when cleaning then in order to preserve the pattern, however a soft brush will normally suffice to clean the blocks.

The unique inspiration you can get from block printing is not the only benefit. Five years ago the industry was in a steady decline and talented artisans were leaving traditional work of carving blocks to find more stable work in the factories of India’s massive population centres. Companies like Colouricious saw that there was a market for the work of these craftspeople. Now beautiful wooden blocks, handmade in India, are being imported for sale across the world. The craftsmanship of these Indian masters is combined with the infrastructure of a number of Western companies to make these wonderful artefacts available to everyone, provide a stable working wage to the indigenous people and keep this wonderful art alive.

Block printing is incredibly simple and deeply satisfying. Even when you are not using the wooden blocks for printing they stand alone as lovely pieces of art. I would urge everyone to get involved in block printing. Not many of us are fortunate to be able to travel to India and see the skill of the craftsmen as they hand make each block with what we would consider quite primitive tools. Or to watch the printers as they effortlessly print rolls of beautiful fabric. However, it is almost ironic that the march of progress that caused the decline of the industry now makes it accessible to all via the Internet. Colouricious are leading block printing specialists. As Colouricious is an online craft store, you can buy wooden printing blocks, book textile art workshops and even book

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